Pile Of Paperwork

Leaves Miami Teen

Stranded In Haiti

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - — Virgeline Pierre should be enjoying the summer after graduating from North Miami Senior High.

Instead, she is in visa limbo in Haiti, a place so foreign to her that she barely knows how to survive.

"I don't know how to walk with a pail of water on my head or to shop for food on the street. It's, like, `What am I doing here?'" she said in perfect high-school American on Monday. "I miss the supermarkets."

Virgeline Pierre is one of up to 120 migrants who are stuck in Haiti, even though U.S. officials here say they are eligible for entry to the United States.

But first, they must also receive permission from the U.S. consulate in Port-au-Prince - which is backlogged in applications and often skeptical of poor paperwork in Haiti.

Now, the Haitians who are trying to leave may be caught in an international squeeze play designed to oust Haiti's military dictatorship.

In Miami on Monday, Pierre's parents Marthe and Virgil were among a group who held a press conference begging for help. "We are very worried about her. We want her home," Virgil Pierre said.

U.S. Rep. Carrie Meek, D-Miami, joined them, to ask for government help to unsnarl paperwork and arrange for a special flight or ship out of Haiti before Friday, when all air traffic between the Haiti and the United States is scheduled to stop.

Duke Austin, spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service in Washington, said no decision had been made on Meek's request.

The Pierres and other local Haitians told similiar stories of relatives who are stranded in Haiti.

In almost all cases, Haitian advocate Cheryl Little said, immigration officials here have approved paperwork for the Haitians trying to leave. Some are permanent U.S. residents who returned to Haiti to clear up questions about their citizenship applications; others are Haitian residents who are eligible for U.S. entry visas to live with relatives.

Virgeline Pierre, a budding track star and aspiring nurse, moved from Haiti a dozen years ago, for instance. Her brother, Bothex, has never been to the U.S., but is eligible to move here because his parents are U.S. residents.

Virgeline returned to Haiti on June 7 - just a week before her high-school graduation - to keep an appointment at the consulate to process her citizenship application.

She thought the trip would take only a few days. But instead, she was told by U.S. officials that there were problems with her Haitian birth certificate. She returned with additional paperwork a week later, but still hasn't heard anything from consular officials.

Her parents could not remain in Haiti with her and her brother for fear of being stuck in Port-au-Prince, and because they had to return to jobs. "We have a mortgage," Virgil Pierce said. So they left Virgeline and Bothex with a cousin in Port-au-Prince.

The cousin's home is spartan, dominated by a giant mural of Jesus Christ. The house sits off an alley dotted with human waste and mangy dogs. Their cousin's husband is in the Haitian military and Pierre worries what could happen if U.S. forces invade.

Most days, Pierre sits around wondering if she will make it into Miami-Dade Community College this fall where, she hopes to take pediatric nursing classes.

"I want to go home," she said. "Haiti is not my home. North Miami is."